For this year’s BioBlitz, I explored Centennial woods to see all of the wildlife and plant species that have appeared for Spring. Although the image to the left is not in Centennial woods, they are spread all around campus and I decided to get a picture of one since they all seemed to appear overnight! This species is a Tulip, but there are also many Daffodils spotted in the area.
Using iNaturalist is a very easy process. I took photos of all of the species and plants that I observed and I was able to upload them when I got back to my dorm, with wifi, to the app. It was easy to get helpful identification suggestions with the location I was in. I encountered signs of species such as a beaver, but also saw/ heard birds like a Blue Jay and Warbler as well as many Squirrels. In addition to animal species, many tree and plant species were budding and blooming! Some examples are a large Forsynthia bush, ground-ivy, honeysuckle, and viburnums.
In terms of other reports from cities globally, I was shocked to hear that Cape Town has continuously been in the running as first place. There is so much species diversity there, but I did not realize how many communities participated to document what is being seen. However, this year currently La Paz and San Antonio are in a close race. South America has a wide range of biodiversity, so I am not surprised to see them on the leaderboard.
here are some of the beautiful flowers I saw on my way to Centennial as well!